BYD AND AVTA UNVEIL FIRST ARTICULATED BATTERY-ELECTRC BUS

BYD announced the delivery of North America’s first 60-foot articulated battery-electric transit bus to the Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA) in Los Angeles County, Calif. The bus, part of AVTA’s award-winning campaign to fully electrify its fleet by 2018, was also built with local labor in BYD’s factory in Lancaster, just miles from the AVTA office. It is the first delivery from AVTA’s order of 13 60-ft. BYD buses.

The 60-foot BYD bus seats up to 60 people and provides a range of 275 miles on a single charge with full charging completed in two to three hours. It will join the rest of the AVTA fleet in serving the half million residents of northern Los Angeles County.

Nearly 600 Californians are employed at the BYD factory in Lancaster. Workers there recently completed a card-check vote, an important step towards unionization.